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Over Professionalizing What Should be the Common Practice of Evangelism

Evangelism should never leave the realm of the non-professionals

I don’t watch much in sports, but once I dreamed of being a professional baseball player. My father used to take me to Yankees games. I was already playing little leagure, and I saw my future before me: pitcher for the Yankees.

Since that did not work out, I’m bitter and don’t watch sports.

But, most kids have a similar dream. For most it doesn’t matter that only a very small percentage of people move on to play professional sports. Love for the sport trumps any future hope of attaining professional status. You play for the love of the game!

But, hypothetically speaking, what would happen to youth participation and leagues if we professionalized a common practice, and only those thought to have professional potential were allowed to play?

Youth leagues would shrink, the majority of children would be heartbroken, and an elitist culture would saturate the realm of sports. As you could imagine, professionalizing a common practice would be detrimental to its existence and participation.

While there are some traveling teams, rec leagues, and private schools that cultivate such talent, there will always be youth leagues where all skill levels can play, grow, and enjoy the sport.

However, I’m afraid that in the church, we have professionalized the common practice of evangelism—and it has become our detriment.

Professionalizing Evangelism

Anytime you professionalize something that should be or is common among everyday people, you shrink not only the passion for that thing, but the participation as well. When it comes to evangelism in the church, there is no doubt that it has been professionalized. Professionalizing it has led to a lack of passion for it and participation doing it. Few believers have ever ...